Clavier: what is it, history, types

The word “clavier” has two meanings. Firstly, this is how keyboard musical instruments, common in Europe in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, began to be called. The second meaning implies an arrangement for the piano of orchestral scores: symphonies, operas with the addition of vocal parts, ballets, etc.

The clavier is an instrument that has keys that allow you to set in motion various mechanisms of sound extraction.

Previously, the name “clavier” included the clavichord, harpsichord, organ, and their varieties. And only from the end of the XNUMXth century, this term began to mean only the piano, and the word “clavier” in our time is called a performer playing an ancient instrument, the so-called authentic.

Along with the improvement of instruments, music as an art also developed, new possibilities for expressing musical thought appeared.